Hinge-mounting and drill-guiding means



Se t. .9, 1958 H. MILSTEIN 2,850,925

HINGE-MOUNTING AND DRILL-GUIDING MEANS Filed March 3, 1955 I 2 Sheets-Sheet l HHH H IQINVENTOR. 'HERM/l/V M/zsrm/v %44%kr M m ATTORNEY H. MILSTEIN HINGE-MOUNTING AND DRILL-GUIDING MEANS Filed March 3, 1955 Sept. 9, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR. HERMAN M/ASTE/A/ ATTORNEY United States Patent HINGE-MOUNTING AND DRILL-GUIDIN G lVIEAN S Herman Milstein, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Aircraft Hinges (30., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of Califomia Application March 3, 1955, Serial No. 491,807

4 Claims. (Cl. 77-62) This invention relates to means for mounting a hinge or the like in position to be drilled and for guiding a drill during a drilling operation.

Hinges, in the nature of twelve, fourteen or more feet in length, as used in aircraft, for instance, present the problem of properly guiding a small-sized but abnormally long drill for drilling the hole for the pintle or hinge pin. Such holes are provided in each of two inter-fitting noded or notched hinge butts. To prevent undue wandering of the lead or cutting end of the drill, it is necessary to guide said end across the notches between the hinge butt nodes. The present invention contemplates improved and inexpensive means for so guiding the cutting end of a hinge-drilling tool and it is an object of the invention to provide such guiding means.

Heretofore, the nodes of long hinge butts were accommodated in milled recesses or notches alternated with drill guides that were integrally formed in a butt-supporting member having a length conforming at least to the length of the butt. It will be realized that such supporting members were not only expensive to produce but also wore out rapidly and required frequent replacement. Hence, such prior members were doubly expensive and, therefore, quite uneconomical. Problems attending hardening to reduce wear were many, particularly the need for retaining straightness of such an elongated member.

Another object of the invention is to provide hingemounting and drill-guiding means in which the latter means are separate commercially available items and in which said itemsare mounted on a relatively inexpensive elongated member by novel and space-saving means.

A further object of the invention is to provide novel and improved means for removably holding a hinge butt in operative position.

The foregoing objects and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more clearly evident as the following description of the invention progresses, said description being based on the means depicted in the accompanying drawings showing preferred embodiments of the present invention. In the drawings, like numerals designate similar parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a top plan view of hinge-mounting and drillguiding means according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view as taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of said means.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of a modification.

The hinge-mounting and drill-guiding means that is illustrated comprises, generally, an elongated, preferably horizontal base 10, a rail 11 carried by said base to locate a hinge butt or plate 12 in drilling position, drillguiding means 13 carried by said rail, and means 14 to clamp said hinge butt in operative position.

2,850,925 Patented Sept. 9, 1958 The base 10 may be suitably supported in any convenient manner and is here shown as a sturdy member formed with parallel sides 15 and 16 connected by transverse portions 17. Side 15 may be provided with a mounting flange 18 and side 16 with a similar flange 19. While not necessarily coplanar, the flanges 18 and 19 are so shown. The rail 11 is mounted on flange 18 and is preferably removably mounted so that interchangeability of difierent rails may be readily effected.

The rail 11 may comprise an elongated bar-like member of suitable metal and the same may have the generally rectangular sectional form that is shown. In the present instance, the rail is formed to have an upper groove or recess 20 substantially centrally disposed along its upper face and to have a rabbet 21 extending along the upper corner on the side toward the base side 16. Both the groove and rabbet are preferably of right angle formation, particularly the latter which has sides 22 and 23 at right angles to each other. Also, said sides are'of same Width, as shown.

The drill-guiding means 13 comprises a plurality of bushings or the like 24 which are disposed in longitudinally spaced relation along the rabbet 21, a tensioning band or strap 25 trained over each said bushing, fastening bolts or screws 26 for the ends of said straps, and a tensioning bolt 27 for each said strap. It will be noted that said bands are of thin gauge material and are each integrally formed of strap material, as shown.

The bushings 24 may comprise conventional drill bushings that have desired external diameter and internal diameter or, as shown in Fig. 4, the same may each be formed to have an outer groove 28 between its ends. Since each hinge butt or plate, regardless how otherwise formed, has nodes 29 of a pre-determined diametral size and is required to be drilled so that said nodes may receive a pintle of particular size, the bushings 24 are selected accordingly and, thus, do not require to be independently manufactured. Since commercial drill bushings are mass produced, extremely accurate, and quite hard to have great wear resistance, their use in the present instance precludes the need for hardening rail 11 and carrying out expensive machining and milling operations to produce said rail. Providing rail 11 with the groove 20 and rabbet 21 entails relatively inexpensive machining operations as compared to milling spaced seats to receive the nodes 29 of the hinge butt.

In practice, it is preferred that the rabbet 21 have its sides 22 and 23 of a width to correspond to the diameter of bushings 24. Thus, as seen in the drawings, the top and inner side faces of the rail 11 are flush with the corresponding parts of bushings 24. Variations in the size of the bushings relative to that of the rabbet would not materially change the assembly, providing, the straps 25 are applied to tightly secure the bushings to the rail 11.

In the present instance, said straps 25 are trained over the portions of the bushings that are opposite to the parts residing in the rabbet and in contact with the walls of said rabbet. Bolts or screws 26 anchor the ends of said straps, and those portions of the straps that span across the groove 20 may be tensioned in a direction into the groove by tensioning bolts 27 to place the straps in tension and, thereby, firmly press the bushings into position in the rabbet. A saddle piece 30 may be interposed between the head of each bolt 27 and the portion of straps 25 being placed under tension, the same having a curved face 31 to engage the strap to not abruptly bend the same nor sharply cut thereinto.

The bushings 24 are of a length to fit between the nodes 29 and, therefore, are spaced accordingly. As seen in Fig. 1 said bushings and nodes alternate and form a continuous line that is alternately solid and perforate (see also Fig. 4).

Since the outer diameter of the bushings is made to be the same as the diameter of the nodes, the latter, automatically, center on the bushings. Therefore, a drill being guided by the bushings forms a central hole in each of the nodes. Also, the holes along the length of. the hinge butt are kept in proper alignment by said bushings because the latter keeps the drill from Wandering. Frequently, the depth of the notches between nodes 2? are relatively shallow, as shown. It will be clear that the thin straps 25 enable centering of the bushings and nodes without inter ference.

The clamp means 14 comprises a set of similar units mounted on base side 16. Each of said units comprises a support base 32 removably aifixed to flange 19 of said base 16, a support member 33 mounted on base 32 as on a pivot 34, a pneumatic unit 35 carried by said niernber 33 and receiving pressure air by Way of a flexible pipe 36, said unit having a stem 37 that is extensible by said air and retractable when the air is exhausted, and a jaw 38 on the end of said stem and adapted to engage the plate part 39 of the hinge butt 12. An adjustable brace 40 may be used to angularly adjust base 33 and unit 35 thereon relative to support base 32. As can be seen, the means 14 may be used to clamp hinge butts of varying size and design in operative position and, the same being pneumatic in operation, enables rapid replacement of butts on rail 11.

The above-described construction enables the angularly adjustable clamp means 14 to hold the hinge butt at different angles relative to the top face of rail IT. This variation of butt position is rendered possible by the fact that the straps offer no limitation in the position of the butt. Only the walls 22 and 23 of the rabbet constitute such position-limiting means.

It will be realized that the above-described means may be varied Without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. T hereforc, I desire to reserve to myself such modifications of the invention that may fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A device of the character described comprising a rail having a groove and a parallel corner rabbet, a plurality of drill bushings disposed in spaced longitudinal alignment in said rabbet, a thin band of integral strap material trained over each bushing and connected at its ends to the rail, a screw threadedly engaged with the rail and having a head in flexing engagement with each band to draw said head-engaged portions of the bands into said groove and thereby tauten the bands over the bushings, the portions of the bands that are trained over the bushings extending in fiatwise engagement with the sides of the rail that define the corner in which the rabbet is formed, and means to angularly adjustably hold a hinge butt with its nodes interspaced and aligned with said bushings, the sides of the rabbet limiting such angular adjustment.

2. A device of the character described comprising a rail having a corner rabbet, a plurality of drill bushings disposed in spaced longitudinal alignment in said rabbet, a thin band of integral strap material trained over each bushing and connected at its ends to the rail, means spaced from the rabbet and in tensioning engagement with each band to draw said bands tightly over the bushings, the portions of the bands that are trained over the bushings extending in flatwise engagement with the sides of the rail that define the corner in which the rabbet is formed, and means to angularly adjustably hold a hinge butt with its nodes interspaced and aligned with said bushings, the sides of the rabbet limiting such angular adjustment.

3. A device of the character described comprising a rail having a corner rabbet, a plurality of drill bushings disposed in spaced longitudinal alignment in said rabbet, a thin band of integral strap material trained over each bushing and connected at its ends to the rail, means spaced from the rabbet and in tensioning engagement with each band to draw said bands tightly over the bushings, and means to angularly adjustably hold a hinge butt with its nodes interspaced and aligned with the bushings.

4. A device of the character described comprising a rail having a corner rabbet, a plurality of drill bushings disposed in spaced longitudinal alignment in said rabbet, a thin band of integral strap material trained over each bushing and connected at its ends to the rail, means spaced from the rabbet and in tensioning engagement with each band to draw said bands tightly over the bushings, and means to angularly adjustably hold a hinge butt with its nodes interspaced and aligned with the bushings, the sides of the rabbet limiting such angular adjustment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,609,953 Lee Dec. 7, 1926 2,507,503 Cudini May 16, 1950 

